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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LYRETHE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LYRE AND THE HARPThe lyre seems to have been an evolution from the even more ancient harp, andwhat I think drove this evolution, was the desire by specifically nomadic culturesin the ancient Middle East, to create a harp-like instrument which unlike the largerharp, was portable.The harp is an incredibly ancient instrument and the very first illustrations of theharp can be found from c.3300BCE – 3000BCE, in rock etchings found inMegiddo, in the North Western Valley of Jezreel in ancient Israel:Further details about of this ancient etching of the first known depiction of thefully evolved triangular harp, complete with harmonic curve, can be seen in ofJoachim Braun's highly informative book, available from Amazon:Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine - Archaeological, written & ComparativeSources (Wm. B. Erdmans Publishing Company, 2002)These rock etchings date from an incredibly ancient era, before the Bronze Age,and before the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt. This remote era in archaeology, is

known as the "Chalcolithic" period (4000 - 3200 BCE) - the "Copper Age". Thetriangular harp depicted in the Megiddo etchings is so fully evolved, that thehistory of the harp must predate even this ancient illustration by at least a fewthousand years! The ultimate ancient evolution of the harp, may have been theresult of a long, progressive series of developments in refining the plucked soundmade by the basic strung bow and arrow of the Stone Age...Incredibly, this Mesolithic ancestor of both the harp & lyre, the basic musicalbow, is still very much alive & well today in Africa - a continuous musicaltradition, dating back at least 60,000 years or more...According to Prof. Richard Dumbrill, in his book, "The Archaeomusicology of theAncient Near East", the lyre and harp both likely evolved from the MesolithicMusic Bow, as he demonstrates in this illustration:

As can be seen in Dumbrill’s diagram above, the fundamental difference between alyre and a harp, is that in a harp, the strings enter directly into the hollow body ofthe instrument, whereas on a lyre, the strings pass over a bridge, which transmitsthe vibrations of the strings to the body of the instrument – just as on a modernguitar.THE EARLIEST EVOLUTION OF THE LYRE FROM THE HARPThe very first lyres were harp-sized, and were discovered at Ur. Incredibly, theypredate the building of the Pyramids in Egypt - they date back to c.2600BCE.These lyres became known as the Golden Bull Lyre of Ur and the Silver Lyre ofUr:

For all details of Prof. Dumbrill's incredible research, including the deciphering ofthe 3400 year old Hurrian Hymn (text H6), please see his book, available fromAmazon: "The Archeomusicology of the Ancient Near East"THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF A TRANSITIONAL FORM OF LYREBy about 2000BCE, a transitional form of lyre seems to have evolved from thesefirst harp-sized Temple Lyres from Ur - although still not yet portable, theycertainly appear reduced in size. These early large, cumbersome lyres were stillplayed vertically, like a harp. This early form of lyre can be seen in the NegevRock Etchings (p.73-74, "Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine", by Joachim Braun)

Below is an illustration of the complete mural:"By commemorating the lucrative trade he had had with the nomaidc Semites inhis final resting place, Knumhotpe sought to assure an eternal traffic of tradesmenpaying tribute to him in the afterworld.The painting evidently registers an actual event which Knumhotpe felt worthy ofeternal repetition.. It depicts a group of thirty-seven Semites in full size in the actof paying customs duties to the nomarch's officials. A bold hieroglyphic text statesthat these Asiatics are supplying him with such important items as stibium, amineral required for eye makeup acquired in Mesopotamia. Knumhotpe evidentlyfeared that the place he would occupy in the hereafter might lack the mineral, aswas the case in Egypt. The date given is the fourth year of Sinusert II's rule, orabout 1892 B.C.E" (quoted from:http://www.hebrewhistory.info/factpapers/fp010-2_egypt.htm)The most fascinating details, which are immediately evidient in this magnificantancient mural, is the striking similarity between the illustrations of the theseancient Semites, and the Biblical narrative of the patriarch Joseph - this group ofnomadic Semites can clearly be seen, wearing their immediately distinctive "coatsof many colours", so vividly mentioned in the timeless Biblical text!The musicologically unique appearance of this first type of portable lyre, asdepicted in the Beni Hasan Mural, is discussed at length, by Joachim Braun:

"One of the nomads is holding a completely new instrument. Unlike the older,larger, rather cumbersome lyre, which was held vertically, this instrument wassmaller (ca.50x30cm), portable, and almost symmetrical in form. It was heldhorizontally so that it could even be played comfortably while walking, as in thecase in the representation here, whilst simultaneously allowing the musician tobreath more easily whilst singing. This particular instrument, portrayed in thehands of distinctly Semitic nomads and yet to the southwest of Canaan proper, isrichly attested and doubtless represents an early example of th horizontal lyre, alogical development for musicians who, as part of a nomadic group such as thisone, were constantly in motion and thus needed a more portable instrument"(p78-79, "Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine", by Joachim Braun)It was the descendants of these first portable lyres, which eventually led to theAsymmetrical Canaanite lyre from the time of King David, the Egyptian lyre ofthe New Kingdom of ancient Egypt, the Biblical Kinnor (the lyre played by theLevites in the Temple of Jerusalem), and the Kithara of Classical Greece andRome:THE CANAANITE ASYMMETRICAL LYREThe "Lyre of Har Megiddo" is an instrument etched onto an ivory plaque thatwas discovered by archaeologist Gordon Loud in the excavations of a royalpalace in the ancient city of Megiddo (aka Armageddon) in Israel, dating to the2nd Millennium BCE, circa 1200 BCE (currently on display in the RockerfellerMuseum in Jerusalem)

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN LYREThe portable lyre was very likely introduced to ancient Egypt sometime duringthe reign of the Hyksos during the Fifteenth Dynasty (1650 BCE – 1550 BCE)who were probably Canaanite in origin. The illustration above is from the 18Dynasty (1543–1292 BC) – during the New Kingdom (16 th – 11 centuries BCE)THE BIBLICAL KINNOR:The reverse of this Kithara-style lyre, as depicted on the Simon Bar Kokhbacoins, minted at the time of the Simon Bar Kokhba Revolt against the Romanoccupation of Judea in the 2 nd century CENotice the ridge down the back of the instrument – exactly the same ridge canbe seen down the back of the Classical Kithara of ancient Greece, as thisancient Greek coin clearly shows:

According to the musicologist Michalis P. Georgiou, the ridge was meant torepresent the spine of a tortoise - as was seen in the more archaic ancient GreekLyra, which classically featured a resonator made of a tortoise shell:

THE ANCIENT GREEK KITHARA:The Classical Greek Kithara, circa 450 BCE. Notice the “U” shaped featuresbelow the arms of the Kithara – there is research by both Pavel Kurfurst &Georgiou to suggest that these features were in fact brass or iron springs, whichallowed lateral oscillation of the arms of the Kithara, resulting in a uniquevibrato effect – the structures on the top of the arms appear to becounterweights, whose function seems to be to slow down the oscillation of thelateral movement of the arms, so that the vibrato effect would have had thesound of a vocal vibrato – which is probably why the Kithara was so veneratedin Classical Greece. If this research is correct, then the Kithara would be thefirst mechanical musical instrument in history!

THE ANCIENT ROMAN KITHARA:Detailed illustration of a Roman Kithara, from the ruins of Herculaneum, 1 stcentury CE. As this detailed painting shows, the Roman Kithara was virtuallyidentical to the ancient Greek Kithara.